


it's the long night dragon, daenerys targaryen!

by Magali_Dragon



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Autumn, Best Friends, F/M, Fluff, Halloween, Maybe a crack fic?, Romantic Fluff, Second Chances, halloween is called the long night in westeros, pumpkin patches, this is the retelling of the great pumpkin but with dragons lol, who knows - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:00:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27126874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magali_Dragon/pseuds/Magali_Dragon
Summary: Daenerys Targaryen doesn't care if the other kids make fun of her, she believes in the Long Night Dragon and is intent on waiting in the pumpkin patch until he comes and her best friend Jon Snow is the only one who agrees to sit with her; years later, in the same pumpkin patch, maybe the Long Night Dragon actually does come to visit.
Relationships: Jon Snow/Daenerys Targaryen
Comments: 88
Kudos: 481





	it's the long night dragon, daenerys targaryen!

**Author's Note:**

> Sooo....this might be a crack fic? It's just fluff. Pure rotting fluff. And it's all because NorthernLights37 made me do it and I don't even know what she said but it's all her fault, always. 
> 
> Plus, I love fall and consider this an Ode to Autumn I guess, lol.
> 
> Thank you so much @youwerenevermine for letting me use your BEAUTIFUL moodboard for this fic! It's the second one, I did the crappy first one, lol.

* * *

The town of Winterfell was ready for the Long Night Eve celebrations-- they fell at the last day of the tenth month, every single year, and had for centuries. It was celebrated all over Westeros, but mostly in the North, which told the story of the Long Night to children from cradle to grave, as it was one of the most important legends and myths in the North. Every single year at the beginning of the month, people decorated their houses in ghosts, witches, dragons, and zombies. There were other stories too that had jumped onto the Long Night legend, tales from Valyria and the Southern Isles and far out in Essos like men who drank blood and had wings and were walking dead.

As it was the beginning of winter and the harvest came around this time, pumpkins and gourds and the colors of the changing leaves became the primary aesthetic of the town. Oranges, yellows, browns, and reds. People carved shapes and faces into pumpkins, caused them to light up and held contents. Apples were the primary ingredient in all deserts, coffees became apple and pumpkin spice. It was a very exciting time of year for children, for they planned what they were going to dress up as, what they would wear to school and around the neighborhood as they asked for candy. It was "Trick or Treat", because the Long Night celebrated the downfall of a trickster, a vengeful and angry Night King and the treat was the happiness and the goodness that followed after his downfall, courtesy of the Dragon Queen.

Daenerys Targaryen thought this was the greatest time of the year. She _loved_ the Long NIght and every single year she begged her mother to make her the greatest costume in all the world. She would spend all year thinking about what to be and from their first home in Valyria, to Pentos to Braavos, to King's Landing, and now in Winterfell, she clung to Long Night Eve. It was her absolute favorite holiday.

She was seven years old that year, which was a good year, she thought. So far the age of seven had brought with it a new move-- her mother had wanted a change of scenery after some bad stuff happened in the South with Dany's dad and so they moved to the North. it was just them ,because her brother Viserys lived with her brother Rhaegar in Dragonstone, since he hated the North and wanted to keep going to school in the South . That was fine with Dany. She liked that it was just her and her mother.

"I want to be a dragon this year," Dany decided, walking into the kitchen with her pictures. She showed her mother, begging. "Please, please, please, I _have_ to be a dragon! Because you know the great Long Night Dragon is going to come to see me and gift me with things because I have been a very good girl this year."

Rhaella chuckled, taking the pictures and tacking them to the fridge. "And what is this story?"

It was one that Dany believed and told her every year, but for the last few years she hadn't been able to actually _test_ this belief. She hopped into her seat at the kitchen table, diving into her bowl of cereal and talking through the blue marshmallows and wheat bits of her Ice Zombie Charms. "The story of the Long Night Dragon! He saved everyone from the Long Night and so every year he comes and he visits a pumpkin patch to give you things if you have been very good all year long." She swallowed hard, waving her spoon around. "And I have been _very_ good this year."

Her mother nodded in agreement, eyebrows arched. "And what pumpkin patch is this?"

"I don't know, but there's a big one over by the Stark house."

"Hmm, well maybe the Long Night Dragon will just visit you at _your_ house this year."

"But he comes to the biggest pumpkin patch in all the patches and he visits and it's because the pumpkin is a symbol of the harvest," she chattered, not sure if she had the true story right. To be honest, she might have been mixing a few up in her head, but she was _positive_ the Long Night Dragon was real and she was so excited to see if he was real because the Long Night was in the North and the big black and red dragon that saved them all was in the North too. She loved dragons and it was all real, no one could tell her otherwise.

Rhaella got up from the table and put her breakfast dishes away, pouring herself a fresh cup of coffee. "Well issa prumia, I will go to the store and see about a dragon costume, but perhaps I will make it for you this year?"

Dany nodded. She loved her mother's homemade clothes and even though they had money because Rhaegar was very rich and all, she knew her mother preferred to keep things simple. Rhella was like that and Dany loved her very much. "Okay!"

"Oh look, your friend is here to get you."

She jumped out of her chair and ran to the back door, throwing it open in time to see her bestest friend in the entire world walking up the path. "Jon!" she shrieked. "Come in! I have to put my shoes on."

Jon didn't say anything, but he also never really said much anyway. He was very quiet, compared to her generally bubbly demeanor. He was her very best friend, the only friend she had really ever had. He lived with the Starks in their very big castle house because they were his family even though he didn't have a daddy, kind of like her. He had a mommy though and she lived at the big castle house too. He didn't have the last name Stark, but 'Snow' because his mommy never said who his daddy was, which was apparently a 'thing' in the North, but Dany didn't care. Lots of other people did but she _loved_ Jon Snow very much.

She even tried to get him to give her a kiss once on the swings, but he turned all red and said that girls and boys didn't do that because it was _gross_ and his cousin Robb would make fun of him, so he didn't kiss her. She cried about it but her mother said that it was probably for the best. Then Jon Snow got lots of cookies from Rhaella for being a "kind boy." Rhaella really loved Jon too and she was friends with Jon Snow's mommy Lyanna.

"Good morning Jon, how are you today?" Rhaella asked kindly, while Dany struggled to shove her foot into her boot. She sighed. "Dany, do you need help?"

"Got it," she grunted, blowing stray strands of silver hair out of her eyes. She leaned over to tie her shoes, cheeks flushed red. "Jon, are you excited for the Long NIght? It's gonna be fun this year. I'm gonna' be a dragon. What're you gonna' be?"

Jon hadn't said one word yet. He shrugged, holding the straps of his backpack tight. "Dunno. Maybe a wolf."

"You're _always_ a wolf."

"No I'm not." he mumbled. "Not always." He frowned. "Sides' you weren't here last year and before. You don't know."

No, she didn't, but Jon loved wolves and it made sense because the Starks had wolves all over their house and on the sign outside the castle and everything. It's what they were known for, like Targaryens with dragons. "Well," she announced, hopping off the bench by the door and getting her coat. It wasn't _that_ cold and hse had dragon blood, but she liked her coat because it was red and her favorite color. "This year I'm finally gonna' meet the Long NIght Dragon."

Jon frowned. "what's that?"

Rhaella cut her off before she could explain. "Come on Daenerys, you're going to be late for school." She bustled them out of the house and to the sidewalk, waving. "I'll pick you up afterward, alright?"

"Bye, bye!" she called, bouncing down the sidewalk, Jon scuffing his shoes along the concrete with her. They walked to the bus stop, where Jon's cousin Robb and mean Theon who was Robb's best friend were already waiting with some other kids, including Jon's dumb cousin Sansa, who was in kindergarten. They were in second grade, but she and Jon were in third grade because they were _special._ They were really smart so they got to jump ahead.

Dany turned to Jon and shrugged off her backpack, rummaging in for her pictures she drew. "See," she said, pointing. "The Long Night Dragon. He comes to the pumpkin patch and he will give you treats for being good. I saw it in a book."

"I never heard of it."

"Because it isn't real!" Robb Stark, the big dumb dumb, overheard them, laughing. "It's not real, there's no such thing. Come on Jon, leave the little Ghost Girl alone."

She wrinkled her nose, trying not to let his words hurt her. Rhaegar told her that she was special because she had silver hair and purple eyes. They all called her Ghost Girl in the North because they were _stupid_. Or at least that's what she thought. Muna and Rhaegar said it was because they were _ignorant_ , but Dany thought that was the same thing. Only Jon was nice to her and that was because they called him names too. It was why they were best friends.

Jon glanced at her and then at the group of boys who were waiting for him to join them, the bus trundling up to a stop, the door hissing and popping open. She frowned, waiting for him to walk away, but he shook his head. "Naw, I'm good."

"Jon and Ghost Girl sitting in a tree!" Theon laughed, jumping up onto the bus.

Dany made a note that one day when she was ruler of _everyone_ and in charge and all, she would push Theon down in the dirt. She smiled warmly at Jon, grateful he was being nice to her. "Will you sit with me in the pumpkin patch and wait for the Long Night Dragon?" she asked, climbing up onto the bus and taking a seat towards the front. He sat next to her and hesitated. She grabbed his arm. "Please! Please, please please Jon! We can wait in the one by your house, the big one with alllll the pumpkins!"

He glanced down at her and shrugged. "Alright I guess."

"Oh yay!"

This was going to be the bestest Long Night ever, Dany believed, absolutely positively.

* * *

"Look at you both! So sweet!" Rhaella took pictures of them both and when she finished, she handed Dany her pumpkin to collect candy in. She warned them, as they scurried to the door. "Dany, you be good for Mr. Stark, do you understand?"

"Yes Muna," Dany chirped, although she felt a little bad because she was telling a fib. She would be good, yes, but she had other plans for the night. Plans that did not involve Mr. Stark, who was Jon's uncle and would be taking them around the neighborhood to ask for candy. She planned to go sit in the pumpkin patch, when they got back to Jon's house.

Candy was all well and good, but she also had to wait for the Long Night Dragon. Rhaella glanced down at her, lilac eyes shrewd. "Dany, remember what I told you? The Long Night Dragon is just a story. It isn't real, alright?"

"Hmm," she said, not listening, because Rhaella was a grown-up and the grown-ups just didn't understand it all.

Jon frowned, always worried. Sometimes Dany thought his face might stick like that. "I don't know Dany, your mommy said..."

"I know what she said," Dany muttered, waving goodbye to her mother as they left the house and went out to the sidewalk, where Mr. Stark was waiting with Robb, Theon, Sansa, and were pulling Jon's little tiny cousin Arya behind in a wagon. Arya was dressed as a cat, but she kept barking like a dog. She was only a year old, so Dany forgave her for this obvious mistake. Sansa was a princess, but kept saying she was a Queen.

Robb and Theon were both dressed as ninjas and were pretending to cut each other's heads off with their fake sabers. "You look very nice Daenerys," Mr. Stark said, his accent soft and rumbling. "Just like a dragon."

"I'm the Long Night Dragon and he will reward me when he sees me," she said. Mr. Stark didn't say anything to that. She trotted after Jon, who was dressed as a wolf, of course, wearing fake furry paws and his face was even painted. She wanted to paint her face but Rhaella said no, remember last year when she got all red from the makeup? She didn't care, but maybe it was a good thing so the Long Night Dragon could recognize her.

They went from house to house, avoiding the Boltons even though Robb and Theon ran up there anyway becuase they were stupid like that. "It's so scary!" Sansa squealed, almost bursting into tears. "Ramsay is so mean!"

He was really mean, he was an older bully. Jon said that one day he would find a wolf to go after Ramsay but until then, they just avoided him when they could. "Are we almost done?" Jon asked his uncle.

"Jon, pick up your feet, stop scuffing the bottoms," Ned chided, and nodded. "And yes, I think we're almost done...oh damn."

It turned out Theon had decided to steal some of Sansa's candy, with the assistance of Robb, and now the 'queen' was screaming for Theon's head, her face turning as red as her hair, and howling at the top of her lungs.

Jon poked his uncle in the side. "Dany and I are gonna' go home."

"Jon, no, you wait there...Robb no! Leave her alone!"

"But she's being a brat!"

"Bye," Dany called, trotting away. Arya gave them a look like she knew what they were doing. Jon held his finger to his lips to silence her and she giggled, shoving her fingers into her mouth and waved at them as they rushed off, shouting that they'd be in the pumpkin patch. Ned gave a wave, still trying to calm down Sansa while Robb and Theon looked only marginally abashed for their behavior.

They hurried down the street, by other large groups of kids and parents. It was a busy neighborhood, until they came to Dany's house, which sat on the corner. It was an old, rather creepy house that she loved very much. They skirted the corner and down the rest of the road, to Winterfell. It was a big castle, but the Starks lived in a part of it that wasn't quite as drafty. It loomed in the distance, bright lights around the stone walls and shining from the windows. They made it spooky with cobwebs and things in the trees and funny lights and sheets that looked like ghosts. Pumpkins spilled out from the main gate around the entrance and if you went in and over to the little cottage where Jon and his muna lived, there were tons of pumpkins and an old apple tree.

Sometimes Jon liked to climb the tree and hide. she would hide with him and it was very fun, especially to throw apples on Robb and Theon when they walked by.

But tonight they scurried to the massive pumpkin patch, where Dany had already hidden lanterns. She flicked them on, in the center of the patch, just behind one of the biggest pumpkins that was left. She propped up the sign she made, welcoming the Long Night Dragon and climbed up to sit on top of the giant pumpkin. She rummaged in her bucket, the light from the electric lantern dim but just perfect enough to see the labels on the candy. "Oooh," she giggled. "A Lion bar!"

Jon made a face, using his lantern to search for his favorite candy. "Trade ya'," he said, handing her some Lion bars for her Snowkles, which were fruit candies in all shades of blue and purple. He rained them into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully while she tore into her chocolate bar, the rice puffs inside cracking like you were 'roaring' hence the name of the candy. "What if he doesn't show up?"

"He will," she said, resolute.

"I hope so." He paused. "There's gonna' be a party at the house after. I'll miss it."

"Well they'll miss the Long NIght Dragon," she said. She held her lantern up, making a face at him. "Spooooky!"

He giggled, dropping his bucket to the ground next to him and made a face behind his lantern. "I'm the Night King!"

"You should be the NIght King next year for Long Night, not a wolf."

"Maybe." He thought for a moment. "Maybe I'll be a king!"

"And I'll be your queen," she giggled.

He smiled and shook his head. "Naw, not my queen. You're my friend Dany. That's all."

Her heart fell a little in her chest. "What?"

"Well yeah. You're just my friend, we're not like...nothing else you know." He made another face, sticking out his tongue and pretending to gag. "We're best friends. Forever."

It wasn't like she thought they were boyfriend and girlfriend like ohw the big kids behaved or husband and wife like his uncle NEd and aunt Catelyn, but she _loved_ him. She ducked her head, saying nothing, and tried to tamp down the twisting feeling in her stomach, because the Long Night Dragon came only for kids who were good and who did not think mean things about other kids.

Not like how much she wanted to push stinky Jon Snow down onto the hay scattered around the pumpkins and hsout how he was a dumb dumb who hurt her feelings. She wiped at her eyes and sniffed, looking into her pumpkin bucket again for some more Lion bars. She forced back the hiccup in her throat. "Are you crying Dany" Jon asked, incredulous.

"No!"

He frowned at her. "It sounds like you are."

"I'm not!" She wiped her eyes again and glared sideways. "If you don't wanna' be here you can just go home!" She stuck her tongue out. "Robb and T heon might make fun of you or something."

Now it was Jon's turn to be upset. "I won't! You're my friend! All the other kids were saying stupid things but I stopped them!"

She sat up straighter on the pumpkin, her feet swinging to hit against it with a hard thud. "Huh?"

The lantern in front of his face showed that his normal pale cheeks were red; or maybe it was just the lamp, she thought. He was scowling again, his gray eyes looking black. With the werewolf makeup and the furry ears on his head and hands, he looked kind of funny. Not scary at all, but that was because Dany knew Jon and he was not scary to her. Maybe to other people, but never to her. "Aye," he said, using the word that all the NOrtherners said instead of 'yes.' He sputtered. "They were saying things about you at school! How the Long Night Dragon isn't real and you were stupid and Southern and kept calling you Ghost Girl and said you burned out your brains from all the fire your dad used!"

Her face flamed at the mention of her father. He was a bad man and they all knew it, but no one really said anything about him to her. Like they knew it was really, really, really mean and didn't think they could. "But...but..." Tears pricked the corners of her eyes. She sniffed indignantly. "He is real!"

"I told them not to say anything to you and I pushed Robb and Theon and got in trouble too!" He was indignant now and hopped off his pumpkin, scowling up at her, still holding the lantern. "And they even said that we were boyfriend and girlfriend and we're not, because we are best friends!"

"Maybe I don't wanna' be your friend anymore!" she cried, upset that he didn't think the Long Night Dragon was real. She was being bad, now the dragon would never come and visit her. She sniffed, throwing her hand out. "Well, go away then Jon Snow! Stupid Jon Snow! He is real and he will come visit me and give me presents and you can just go away if you don't think it's real at all."

His face fell, eyes wide. "I don't want to leave you alone."

"Well too bad!"

"But we're friends!"

"Friends don't make friends cry!" And now she was crying and she felt very stupid. Jon Snow was such a dumb boy. She waved him away again. "Go away, I will wait for the Long Night Dragon myself and you'll see he is real!"

Jon grabbed his candy and shook his head at her. "Whatever Dany."

"Go away! I hate you!" She wiped her eyes with the bag of her hand, smearing the tears over her hot cheeks. Her dragon costume was very heavy on her now, the cardboard wings and tail, her hooded sweatshirt over her hair, which her mother had braided tightly to the back of her head so it didn't get in the way with the dragon 'hood' that had her snout and her ears on it. She grabbed hold of the side of the pumpkin and hiccupped through the rest of her tears.

Jon Snow was her best friend in all of Winterfell and the only friend she had. The Long NIght Dragon would have to understand it that she had _tried_ to convince him of the truth. She would be rewarded of course, she thought, thinking of the story of the queen who flew on the back of the big dragon and stopped all the ice monsters and saved the entire North. Her mother told her that the queen was a Targaryen, or at least, that's what the tories said. The pictures in her storybooks even showed a beautiful woman with silver hair and purple eyes, just like her!

They didn't know her name, but Dany wanted to be just like her and she would be because the dragon would come and it would all be real and they would all know that she was right. She looked up at the sky, the stars bright and twinkling. You could see them out in the North, but not in the South, because there were too many lights.

It was starting to get cold. She called out, hearing an owl hooting nearby. "Dragon? Are you there? I'm waiting for you!"

She slipped off the pumpkin at one point, her eyes drooping. She wrapped her thick sweatshirt around her and moved her cardboard wings and tail aside because they were starting to feel uncomfortable and she didn't want them to bend too much. Her head nodded on her chest and she mumbled, hearing hay cracking nearby. "Dragon?"

The last thing she remembered thinking was that the dragon should hurry up, because she was starting to get very cold and she really wanted to get to her bed.

* * *

"Dragon!"

Dany jumped up in her bed, crying out, shocked and surprised at the sight of her bedroom, with all her dragon pictures and paintings, and her costume folded nicely on her dresser. She struggled in her sheets and her nightgown, wondering how she got there. She cried, realizing that she missed the Long NIght Dragon, as she had fallen asleep in the pumpkin patch, upset after her fight with Jon.

She sniffled, climbing out of her bed and going over to the door, but before she could reach the knob, it pushed open, Rhaella standing on the other side. "Muna!" she sobbed out, grabbing her mother around her knees.

Rhaella crouched to hug her, letting her cry into her hair and rubbing her back gently, soothing Valyrian whispers in her ear. Valyrian was their mother tongue and Rhaella always spoke it when she was upset. "Oh my little Stormborn, you frightened me! Jon told Lyanna where you were. We were so worried about you both. Why did you run off?"

"To wait for the Long NIght Dragon and he didn't come," she mumbled. She wiped her nose, turning as Rhaella walked her back to her bed and helped her under the covers again. Her mother perched on the edge, fingers raking through her hair, free of the braids. "And Jon and I got in a big fight and I yelled at him and he yelled back."

"Hmm, I heard. Jon was very worried about you out there all alone, that was why he told us."

She took the Kleenex her mother gave her, rubbing her eyes with it. "He is mean."

"He's a very good friend, my little Stormborn. He believed in the dragon with you and when he knew you were not going to come in, he came to get us. He's a very good friend." Rhaella ran her palm over Dany's head and cupped her chin, tilting it up, smiling warmly. "As for the Long Night Dragon, maybe he doesn't visit in person, but you still believe in him and that's what counts. He's here. " She pressed her folded fingers to Dany's heart, which beat heavy in her small chest. "That's what matters."

"Even if he's not real?"

"Maybe not in real life, but once upon a time ago, dragons were real and they did fly the skies and Targaryens commanded them and you my little Daenerys, are a true Targaryen, because you will never give up on the dragons, even when the legends have passed," Rhaella said, smiling warmly, her eyes twinkling. She reached over on the nightstand, taking a small stuffed black dragon that Dany had never seen before. In its hands was a pumpkin and it wore a witch's hat. The hat was bright red.

She took the dragon gingerly, unsure what it was supposed to be. Her eyes lifted to her mother’s, curious. “Who is this?” she whispered.

Rhaella leaned in and kissed her forehead, whispering. “The Long Night dragon.” She smiled again. "For you, my Stormborn. Now you can have him all year long, not just on the Long Night.”

Her smile pulled wide on her tired face and she cuddled the dragon to her chest. “Thank you Muna.”

“I love you my Stormborn. Also, tomorrow you’re going to apologize to Jon. He did a very good thing tonight, keeping you from being out in the cold all night.” Her mother was stern now, chiding her and reprimanding her gently, so she wasn’t upset but also knew she was in trouble for running off at nighttime and going to hide in the pumpkin patch.

She closed her eyes, falling asleep to her mother’s soft Valyrian singing, making a note to find Jon the next day and apologize. He was a stupid boy, but he was her very best friend.

And they would be friends forever.

* * *

“It looks the exact same,” Dany murmured, standing in front of her old house, her arms crossed over her chest. The new owners had repainted it, but she thought she still could see the old tree in the backyard that knotted up to the window that used to be her room. She knocked her knuckles on the gate, glancing sideways at the path that led up to the back door, the path that for many years she ran up and down at the beginning and end of every day, greeting her friends and family when they visited.

Things had changed little in Winterfell. It’d been ten years. She left as a seventeen year old, ready to start her life fresh, away from the tiny town in the North where she had never really belonged. Her mother left not long after, to be closer to her and her brothers in the South. It rarely crossed her mind, her time in the North, even if she’d spent more time there than she had elsewhere in the world.

And she was back.

She turned her face up to the sunlight, creeping in through the few clouds that threatened rain later. It was autumn in the North, the air smelling of leaves and pumpkins and apples and just… _autumn._ There was a nip in the wind, the beginnings of snow on the way.

 _Snow_.

If she were being honest with herself she was dragging her feet. Just like how he used to. She’d searched him briefly, out of curiosity, when she took the job up at Winterfell High as their social worker. Ironic, she was returning to her old high school, after declaring to the world she would never return, the day she left for college in Essos at the University of Meereen.

Maybe it was the autumn that drew her back, the need for seasons, for actual winter. She smiled again at her house and kept walking, hands in her pockets, enjoying the cool air, the crunch of leaves under her feet, and thought about heading back into town to get a pumpkin spice latte. Her feet had other plans, boots heavy and leading her around the corner and down to the castle, cars lined up around the block.

She stopped and stared at all the people milling around, kids in costumes with face paint, dragging bags of candy, apples, and hauling pumpkins. Her gaze landed on the sign with a big arrow, pointing towards the ‘Stark Long Night Pumpkin Patch and Fair.’ She smiled, wondering if Robb was still around. Or Sansa or Arya, or even the others. She’d left when Bran and Rickon were still really young, they had to be in their late teens now.

The fee cost only a few stags and she happily paid it, entering the pumpkin patch. There were stalls for food, costumes, and to carve and paint pumpkins. Hayrides too, she thought, seeing a tractor pull to a stop, little kids jumping off and squealing eagerly. She glanced at one little boy who ran by her, wearing a dragon costume, and smiled to herself, thinking of one of the many times she’d ended up in the pumpkin patch.

The first time of course had been devastating at the time-- learning the Long Night Dragon wasn’t real and getting into a fight with her best friend. The other time, well, that had hurt. She wandered through, finding her way to one of the largest pumpkins in the back of the patch and knelt down to right one, which had fallen sideways.

“These pumpkins aren’t for sale, they’re just decoration.”

Dany stood straight, hearing the soft burr, vowels rolling and raspy. She closed her eyes briefly and smiled to herself. She turned, slow, and lifted her brow at the surprised look of the man standing behind her.

“Hi Jon.”

Jon Snow’s mouth had fallen open. He snapped it closed and smiled, eyes crinkling. “Dany,” he murmured. He removed his hands from the pockets of his old black Westerosi military coat, which was open against the chill. In ten years he had only gotten more handsome, his beard cut neatly and his curls messy but tamed back into a half-up/half-down manbun. He lifted his hands slightly, reaching towards her, laughing. “Dany! What’re you doing here?”

She laughed, her heart filling with warmth, and hugged him tight, smelling cinnamon spice, hay, pumpkin, and apple. Also the barest bit of cigarette ash, which told her he hadn’t quite given them up in ten years. “I’m back, um...I moved back to Winterfell.” She stumbled, stepping backwards and grinning. “This place is amazing, I can’t believe this is the same pumpkin patch!”

He nodded and grinned, rubbing his hand over his hair. “Aye, we’ve been doing this for a few years now. Kind of a Long Night tradition now.”

“It’s so fun,” she said, feeling a little weird, standing in front of her ex-boyfriend. _The love of my life._ She walked with him down the path in front of the big pumpkins, glancing towards the front of the patch. She saw a flurry of activity, kids screaming and running towards a large stall, but she couldn’t tell what it was. “What’s that?”

“Oh, um…” Jon trailed off and grinned, gesturing. “Come on, you’ll like this.”

They walked in silence to the front of the pumpkin patch. She wondered what to say to him, other than he looked so good. He’d always looked good but he’d only aged better. She heard he went into the military, that was his plan. She hesitated, wondering if she should say how sorry she was to hear about his mother’s death, about his uncle’s untimely passing too. Except he didn’t give her the opportunity, before he pointed towards the stall, with the sign tacked out in front.

“Oh my gods,” she exclaimed.

_Meet the Long Night Dragon!_

Jon smiled sideways. “I thought you’d like that.”

“Oh my gods, I was so crazy,” she laughed, remembering her fervor that first Long Night she spent in Winterfell. “Falling asleep in the pumpkin patch.”

“And you yelled at me,” he reminded her, still smiling.

She crossed her arms tight over her chest, still feeling awkward and foolish. She rolled her eyes. “I was seven, Jon.”

“You were determined.” He licked his lips; her stomach warmed again. “So what are you doing here, really? You moved back?”

“Um, yeah...I...I’m a social worker now. At the high school.”

Somehow they ended up getting coffee at one of the stalls and wandering through the pumpkin patch again, and then they were sitting in the garden outside the little cottage where he grew up, just within the walls of the castle’s keep, the apple tree still sitting out front, where they used to climb up and throw apples at his cousins. They also used to do other things in the tree, when they got older and bolder.

The sun began to go down by the time Day realized they were still talking. “I should go,” she laughed. “I’ve been keeping you far too long.”

“I own the place,” Jon said, hand propped on his head. He shrugged his shoulders. “I can take as long as I want.” He shifted in his seat on the bench. “Hey, um...wanna’ come back on the real Long Night? In like a week?”

That was next week, wasn’t it? She laughed. “Are you going to dress up as a wolf?”

“No,” he grinned. He rolled his eyes. “I might bring my wolf. Ghost. He loves running around the pumpkins.”

“No shit you have a _wolf_?”

“Well he’s a hybrid…”

Another hour passed and the lights came on through the garden, must have been on timers. She finally got up and managed to tear herself away, promising she’d return tomorrow evening, for the actual Long Night celebration. It took her the rest of the night and not until she was almost fast asleep in bed, her cat Drogon purring near her head on the pillow, that she wondered what exactly Jon Snow had in mind when he invited her back to the pumpkin patch.

* * *

“You were so angry with me.”

“I think my exact words were that you were a ‘dumb dumb’,” Dany laughed, walking side by side with Jon, along the side of the pumpkin patch. It wasn’t as dark as it was that evening they first spent there. Tiny white twinkle lights thread through the trees scattered throughout the patch and on poles and strings criss-crossing over the remaining pumpkins. She thought it was beautiful. Very magical.

The entire week had been magical. She hadn’t been able to keep from seeing him again, running right into him in the coffee shop in town. Then they saw each other at the grocery store. And she met his dog while they were both running along the lake. It seemed every single day they saw each other, until they went to dinner, seeing each other ‘on purpose.’ And he helped her at the DMV, which her best friend Missandei told her meant they were going to get married because no guy did that unless they really loved you, but she wasn’t positive.

_”We were best friends as kids Missy!”_

_”Didn’t you lose your virginity to him? That counts for something Dany, it’s way more than just old friends.”_

And damnit, but she was sure Missy was right. Especially now, she thought. They’d just slid right back to where they were before she left Winterfell.

Jon laughed; it was the same laugh he had as a kid. She shivered and he shrugged out of his coat. “Here,” he said, draping it over her shoulders. “I remember you always ran hot, but guess all that time in Essos made you weak.”

“I’m not weak, it’s freezing!” Her breath came in puffs against the sudden dip in temperature. She rolled her eyes at his smirk. “Okay, fine, maybe Essos made me weak.”

They stopped in the center of the pumpkin patch and hopped up onto the large pumpkins in the center, which seemed to fit them both perfectly. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, the cuff of his coat heavy on her wrist. It had been a week of thinking about what this meant, but it was just friends, she decided. They were close as children, went to school together, and _yes_ , they did date in high school and they...well...they did everything together.

She looked around the pumpkin patch again. “The Long Night Dragon,” she whispered. She laughed. “Brings things to good girls.” She turned her face towards his. “Remember the year we came here to hide from Theon and Robb, after we ruined their costumes?”

“Oh yeah,” he laughed. “And that year Sansa and all her friends came to spy on us, thinking we would kiss?”

“I remember trying to trick you into kissing me.”

Jon glanced sideways, voice suddenly quiet. “You didn’t have to trick me later.”

No, no she didn’t have to trick him later. She pursed her lips, turning her face and realized how close they were. “Jon,” she murmured.

“I never did kiss you in the pumpkin patch,” he whispered.

She swallowed hard. “No,” she agreed. Her heart beat faster. “No you didn’t.”

“I should fix that.”

Dany was about to say that he should do that, when he swept down and kissed her. She moaned softly, his lips as gentle and insistent as they were when they were teenagers. She grabbed at his lapels, the flannel soft under her fingers and he reached around her waist, bringing her up against his chest. They kissed softly, hesitantly, and after a moment, broke apart, smiling nervously at each other.

She took a deep breath and slowly released it. “You finally kissed me in a pumpkin patch,” she murmured, still holding onto the front of his shirt.

“Hmm,” he murmured, nodding. “I did.”

“Kiss me again,” she said, tilting her face up before he even had a chance, and pulled him hard against her.

That night they didn’t spend the _entire_ evening in the pumpkin patch, but longer than they did the first time, when they were little kids. It last as long as it could until the cold finally got to her and they hurried back to his cottage and she got to see that Jon Snow had only gotten better with age.

* * *

“Happy Long Night!” Dany called, waving to people as they rolled by the houses, her daughter too young to truly understand what was happening, not that it mattered. THey were doing this mostly for her, because it was her _favorite_ holiday. “Say ‘Happy Long Night’, Lya!”

Lyanna just waved and giggled, before trying to shove the tail of her dragon costume into her mouth. Jon grinned down at her, tugging her along in the wagon. “I think she’s a little too young for that one Dany, she still can’t say ‘Muna.’”

“Soon enough,” Dany vowed. It still irked her that her daughter could say ‘Dada’ all the livelong day, but asking for the woman who _birthed_ her was proving difficult. She looked up at the sky, the sun almost gone behind the horizon and the moon out. “It’s almost time for the Long Night Dragon to appear!”

“And he’ll come and give presents to all the good children,” Jon said, looking down at Lya, who was still trying to eat her tail. Ghost, their big white wolf-dog, trotted along at the side, grateful they didn’t put him in a costume like they tried to do last year. He never had quite forgiven them for the unicorn outfit.

Dany leaned against her husband, her arm going around his waist. She smiled wide up at him, truly happy. She didn’t think she’d ever been this happy in her life. “My mom is coming in tomorrow, said that she’ll spot us for date night.”

“I think your mom will spot us for every night, we need to check her purse and make sure she doesn’t try to steal Lya like she did last time.”

“True,” she giggled.

They left the wagon at the cottage, carrying Lya with them as they went into the pumpkin patch, continuing the tradition that they had started as children and rekindled along with their relationship. They didn’t spend the entire evening there, but sat on the pumpkins, looking up at the stars, while ‘waiting’ for the Long Night Dragon.

Dany leaned against Jon, smiling up at him. “You’re a dumb dumb, Jon Snow,” she murmured, chin on his shoulder.

He nuzzled her nose. “I was a dumb dumb, because I think I said that we weren’t boyfriend and girlfriend.”

“But you were right that we were best friends.”

“I shouldn’t have let you get away like I did,” he whispered, his lips hovering atop hers.

She shrugged. “We needed to grow up.” She gazed lovingly at their daughter, the most perfect creature in the world, in her little dragon outfit. “And you know what Jon? I think the Long Night Dragon has finally arrived.”

“I think so too.” He bounced Lya in his arms, the baby squealing and giggling, the hood of her dragon costume falling over her eyes. “And I think she’s definitely come to bring us presents.”

Dany kissed him deeply, arm around his neck. She broke away a moment later, whispering. “The Long Night Dragon came that first night though.” She wrinkled her nose, looking back on that moment, years and years and years later. He cocked his head, confused. She shrugged. “He brought me you.”

Jon whispered. “You’re my bestest friend in the whole world.”

“Mine too Jon Snow.” She kissed him, their daughter giggling in his arms, trying to grab for her braids. She sighed, closing her eyes and breathing in the deep, clean autumn air, and cuddled against her best friend and their little Long Night Dragon.


End file.
